Tom Riggins: Left’s socialist expectations burned

The left wing of the Democrat Party is fast becoming the mainstream of the party. It espouses socialism and government control as its central theme, no matter how well disguised it has been. They have a complicit media. It has been posited that the media may be the true Democrat Party with elected officials and party leaders being shills for the media. Maybe, but regardless they are in it together.

They are aided by a young generation that has been spoon-fed support for socialism and hate of capitalism by an education system gone astray. The pervasive mantra at college campuses nationwide is that socialism is good.

Talk to a believer in socialism and you will hear how much more fair it is. Yet no socialist regime has historically survived long. If you use Venezuela as the most wide known example of failed socialism, they immediately counter that concepts of socialism were not implemented properly. Properly applied, socialism must be better because it is more “fair.”

That is the crux of the issue. What might seem sound in theory completely ignores a reality. That reality is human nature. The left believes in the perfectibility of human nature. By extension, they believe in a utopian society. They don’t understand that utopia is fantasy. By the way, utopia literally means “no place” from its Greek derivation where “uo” is no and “topos” is place. That is a little different than the left’s idea of utopia.

Human nature is subject to folly and wickedness. It is also subject to the tendency to try to better oneself. Capitalism enables that tendency. Socialism does too, but at the expense of others. Thus socialist societies inevitably evolve into the elites and the commoners, or some tiered fashion thereof. And, unlike capitalism, there is no mobility allowed, where one can move from one group to another.

The effects of human nature can be found in an event that just took place. Burning Man started out being described as an experiment in community and total inclusivity. In the 20-plus years that it has been held in the Black Rock Desert, it has grown and evolved. Many are now not happy with that evolution.

Originally everyone was on an equal footing with an equal place in the events, or so I am told. I have never been there. It then evolved into “camps” that accommodated different interests and needs. While probably necessary from a management standpoint to provide organization for a huge number of people, it was also the first step away from “equal” status.

Now it is reported that the elite can have their own camp complete with Wi-Fi, hot showers, electricity and air conditioning (provided by those nasty hydrocarbon-burning generators), and a host of other features not otherwise available. Meanwhile the “commoners” survive in heat and lung-choking alkali dust. Isn’t it amazing how human nature reveals itself even in the supposedly most unadulterated of settings?

One other note. Burners as a group are most likely the most avid supporters of their climate change religion. The mantra for Burning Man is “leave no trace.” Yet when I talk with people who go in after the event to clean up, they universally say it is one of the trashiest places they’ve seen. At least 5,000 bicycles were found abandoned in 2018. Trash abounds. There are reportedly piles of feces, often next to portable facilities. Oddly, when BLM required Dumpsters at the exits in order to issue permits, there was a huge resistance.

Back to my main point. Socialism is doomed to fail no matter how the socialist concepts are applied. Human nature will eventually take over. When that happens, that fair and benign idea of socialism that leftists have in their head will evolve into a tiered government of elites, support groups for elites such as propaganda specialists, military, and police, and the commoners whose only function will be to support the lifestyle of the elites.

Unfettered and unrestricted capitalism, however imperfect, has lifted more people out of poverty world-wide that all of the do-gooders combined. That is not the watered down form of capitalism seen today in this country where cronyism prevails along with over-regulation and taxes.

Why is the education system, especially colleges, so determined to undermine the country by virtual brainwashing the so-called virtues of socialism? What is wrong with at least equal time for the system that makes it possible for educators to spew their vitriol? Meanwhile, look at Burning Man as a good example of human nature.